Quick SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2417

Date 14 June 2023
Number 2417
Setter Pedro
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 105
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2417

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

Reference, Tracked and Blog solvers with error-free solutions to this puzzle are shown below.

We also show the solver's Personal NITCH, which is their result on this puzzle compared to their average time, and the Wavelength Index of Times Cryptic Hardness, the WITCH, which is the Personal NITCH compared to the SNITCH.

Name TfTT Name Average time This time Personal NITCH WITCH
mohn 02:11 02:05 95 90
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:41 108 102
verlaine 02:36 02:09 82 78
cmjhutton 02:44 02:36 95 90
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:52 101 96
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:39 86 81
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 04:14 116 110
richard 03:39 02:52 78 74
markdobell 03:50 03:21 87 82
Heyesey 03:52 03:37 93 88
Kinghedger 03:52 04:22 112 106
glheard 04:02 04:18 106 100
Strober 04:04 07:41 188 179
lickert 04:11 03:48 90 85
chindit 04:13 03:41 87 82
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:06 96 91
AlanS 04:19 05:30 127 120
nina s 04:19 06:57 161 153
MikeOsborne 04:21 03:58 91 86
tilbee 04:21 03:59 91 86
Roscoe 04:26 03:46 84 80
lucyg43484 04:30 03:45 83 79
John Walsh 04:37 04:38 100 95
Jim Willis 04:38 05:20 115 109
andrewlake 04:44 04:58 104 99
denislaw 04:47 07:54 165 157
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 05:38 117 111
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:35 115 109
Ease This Jam 04:50 07:21 152 144
MK76 04:53 05:50 119 113
Umpire 04:54 06:18 128 121
Honggui 04:54 05:43 116 110
Zander 05:02 05:40 112 106
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 06:05 119 113
Liari 05:09 04:28 86 81
Paul Bacon 05:09 05:49 112 106
Squallaby 05:09 05:13 101 96
neilr neilr 05:10 05:33 107 101
annbrew 05:11 06:13 119 113
Tibthorpe 05:12 05:59 115 109
footballblue 05:17 05:49 110 104
Penfold_61 05:18 04:41 88 83
esmeralda 05:23 06:36 122 116
fshephe 05:25 05:53 108 102
ChuckB 05:26 05:07 94 89
jimpen 05:26 05:45 105 100
Spanna 05:27 05:09 94 89
KET 05:29 05:23 98 93
jdrubin 05:29 06:19 115 109
mw7000 05:29 05:53 107 101
admin 05:31 06:13 112 106
Rabbitoh 05:32 04:55 88 83
Finzi 05:39 05:48 102 97
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 06:43 118 112
Julian Forbes 05:45 07:33 131 124
Looch 05:48 06:15 107 101
squark 05:50 05:06 87 82
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 07:51 134 127
cath23 05:52 06:07 104 99
Dzhigit 05:54 06:45 114 108
SimonB 05:56 05:49 98 93
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 05:26 89 84
Tudds 06:05 06:53 113 107
Rosron 06:07 04:08 67 63
GMcD 06:08 05:05 82 78
jimwetzler 06:16 05:19 84 80
ilan 06:17 06:08 97 92
James P 06:18 06:53 109 103
JMbrow29 06:19 07:35 120 114
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 07:08 111 105
tds 06:29 05:54 91 86
uvofiz 06:30 07:25 114 108
Dvynys Dvynys 06:37 05:34 84 80
Riche Riche 06:43 07:46 115 109
rburman 06:43 06:17 93 88
maisiemae 06:45 06:37 98 93
Puzzleplease 06:46 07:52 116 110
Edprof 06:49 06:16 91 86
FraserH 06:56 07:32 108 102
ChrisBrea 06:57 07:40 110 104
ulaca ulaca 06:57 07:38 109 103
Bobby D 06:58 06:13 89 84
Yatton50 07:02 07:25 105 100
benedick 07:04 07:17 103 98
barracuda barracuda 07:08 05:47 81 77
gsriordan52 07:20 07:14 98 93
frost 07:51 07:46 98 93
goblin 08:21 07:45 92 87

A guide to the solver status

Legend
 Reference solver used for SNITCH
 Other Reference solver
 Tracked solver
 Blog solver

Blog Solvers

Blog Solvers are those who have allowed their times to be taken from the Times for the Times blog.

Notes for Blog Solvers:

  • the most reliable format for reporting times is with format "mm:ss" or as "x minutes" in the title or at the start of the entry
  • only the first main comment for each blogger is used; responses to other comments or a second comment is ignored
  • to report errors, include "n errors" just after the time
  • If you just have a time it is assumed you have no errors unless you mention DNF or pink squares or giving up, etc, in the text
  • Examples of good time notifications are "38:30, 0 errors" and "39 minutes, 0 errors" in the comment title or as the first part of your comment

Notes

The definition of Reference and Tracked solvers is described on the Neutrinos page.

The results for Reference solvers are normally used to calcuate the SNITCH. When this happens they are shown in the list with a solid blue line to the left. In the previous SNITCH results listing for each crossword, these were the only entries shown.

The most common causes for Reference solver results not to be used are: (a) that they did not meet the criteria this month to be used as a reference (e.g. they may not have completed enough puzzles on each day of the week) or (b) they have been pushed out of the top 100 on the leader board. In these cases, the results are now shown, but their data is not used for the SNITCH calculation.

Where there is data for Tracked solvers, I show them also in this table. The solving data is not always available, as the Crossword Club site only shows the top 100 solvers to everyone. Logged-in users get their own leaderboard position and those around them, but this is not available to everyone. So the SNITCH site only gets data for those who have made the top 100 in the leaderboard at some point during the day.

As a result there are a few geographically advantaged solvers; those of us who solve early in the day (e.g. we in the Antipodes, those in Asia and those staying up late in North America) are more likely to hit the leaderboard even with slower times. Solvers who are just as capable but solve later in the UK day might not make the top 100 and I have no way to capture their results.

You may wonder why there are Tracked solvers (in red) with low average solving times, mixed in with the Reference solvers (in blue). These are usually those that, while they don't seem to be Neutrinos, are not well aligned to the SNITCH. So I don't use them as Reference solvers in the SNITCH calculation, but still show their overall results.

You might also notice that there's some inconsistency at the tail end of the Reference solver list. My cutoff point is an average solving time of 45 minutes. But if someone around this mark is chosen as a Reference solver, their next month's results might end up being over 45 minutes and they will still be used. Alternatively, a Tracked solver might creep in under 45 minutes on the next calculation, but didn't make the cut for the prior Reference list. It's on the to-do list to see if I can make this a bit more predictable.